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Rage and a sorrow I can’t describe.
How did my family get here? After everything I’ve been through, how am I here right now, looking at these two women?
I didn’t hate Sophia, not before I took over the family, and not after. I didn’t love how her and her aunt were always trying to undermine me—but I never blamed them.
Back when we were kids, I was even close with my cousin. We used to play together, her and her brother and I. We’d explore the grounds, go out on the lake, get into trouble in the city. Typical kid shit. We grew apart as we got older, but I’ve never forgotten the girl I used to spend so much time with.
That girl is gone now.
And I mourn for her. I mourn deeply, so deeply it hurts, clouded only by the anger that drives me.
I understand why my mother always wears black.
But I won’t succumb to my bitterness.
Along the walls are my captains, at least those that could come on short notice. There’s Spyro, Damon, Kosmos my consigliere, and Stavros, one of the old guard. The other captains are on their way, but this can’t wait any longer.
Justice must be done.
“Sophia Kazan. Anissa Kazan. You are traitors to your family.” My voice breaks the tense silence as I stare at the women on their knees.
My family.
Dead to me now.
“Not guilty,” Anissa says primly.
“This isn’t a fucking trial,” I say, my voice a growl. “This is a dictatorship. I am the lord in this room, and my will is the word of god as far as you’re concerned. Aunt Anissa, I have tolerated your disobedience for long enough. You’ve done nothing but conspire with the captains behind my back—”
“I have done nothing but work for my family,” Anissa says.
I nod to Alonzo. He kicks her hard between the shoulder blades, knocking her face-first onto the floor.
“Speak again and I’ll have him stand on the back of your skull,” I say.
Aunt Anissa groans as she struggles to right herself. Alonzo drags her up by her hair, but I wave him off before he can do more.
“There’s no need to be cruel, Evander,” Mother says softly from my elbow. “They know what they did.”
“Maybe they do, but my captains need to hear it.” I stare at her. “Do you deny that Sophia tried to murder my wife?”
“I don’t,” Mother says.
“Do you deny that Anissa and Sophia worked with Zale to have Camille kidnaped and sent back to the Italians?”
“I don’t,” Mother says. “I know it was them.”
“Then be silent.” I work my jaw, not happy about talking to my mother like that, but I can’t accept anyone undermining me right now. This is too important. I turn back to Anissa and Sophia, and both women are staring at me with fear in their eyes. I come around the desk, pausing only to kiss Camille on the forehead. She smiles at me, pain in her expression.
I stand in front of my cousin and my aunt.
“I know you both hate me,” I say, looking from one to the other. Anissa shows nothing, though a thin trickle of blood rolls down from her nose. Sophia, however, stares death at me, like a caged, rabid fox. “You both have good reason. I killed the former lord of this family, your husband and father, for murdering my father. I killed his son and heir, your child and your brother, when he tried to stop me. I did what I felt was necessary and right, but I understand why you both still hold that against me. That is the only reason you have both been tolerated for this long.”
“I don’t need a murderer to tolerate me,” Sophia hisses.
I hold up a hand to keep Lycus from silencing her. “You have been my punishment,” I say softly, staring at the pathetic rage flowing from Sophia like a river. I hate my cousin, my half-sister, as much as she hates me. But she’s a pathetic creature, twisted by grief and revenge. “I killed my uncle. I killed my lord and his son. Though I did it for good reasons, I still felt as though I owed the world something. You two were that something. You two were the price I paid to remember the terrible things that I did.”
“That’s a shame,” Anissa says. “If you felt so bad, you could’ve just killed yourself and saved us all the trouble.”
